If you are a Small Business customer, find additional troubleshooting and learning resources at the Support for Small Business site.

This article describes how to troubleshoot problems that
may occur when you attempt to shut down and restart your computer.

Note that this information is also available in the Windows 98 Startup and
Shutdown Troubleshooting Wizard. Microsoft recommends that you use this wizard,
but this text-based article is available for your convenience. The Windows 98
Startup and Shutdown Troubleshooting Wizard is located at the following
Microsoft Web site:

Shutdown problems in Windows 98 can be caused by any of the
following issues:

Incompatible, damaged, or conflicting device
drivers

A damaged exit sound file

Incorrectly configured or damaged hardware

To troubleshoot these issues perform the following steps in
order, one at a time, testing after each step to determine if the issue is
resolved. If the issue is not resolved, continue to the next step.

If you have installed new hardware or software on your
computer, uninstall it and check to see if your shut down problem is resolved.
If it is, contact the manufacturer of the hardware or software.

Start your computer in Safe mode and then shut down. If
your computer does not shut down properly in Safe mode, there may be a
compatibility issue between Windows 98 and your computer's BIOS.
For information about how to contact your hardware vendor, click the
appropriate article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge
Base: The third-party contact information included in
this article is provided to help you find the technical support you need. This
contact information is subject to change without notice. Microsoft in no way
guarantees the accuracy of this third-party contact information.For information about how to contact your hardware vendor, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

Determine if the shutdown problem is caused by a
command or a driver that loads automatically from the Win.ini, System.ini,
Autoexec.bat, or Config.sys file, or whether a program in the Startup folder
conflicts with the startup process. To do this perform clean boot
troubleshooting.

For additional information about how to perform
clean boot troubleshooting, click the article number below to view the article
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Disable some device drivers. Some of the most common
device drivers that may cause problems are device drivers for sound cards,
video adapters, and network adapters. Disable any devices in the following
categories:

Display adapters

Floppy disk controllers

Hard disk controllers

Keyboard

Mouse

Network adapters

PCMCIA socket

Ports

SCSI controllers

Sound, video, and game controllers

To disable device drivers:

Right-click My Computer on the desktop, click Properties, and then click the Device Manager tab.

Double-click a device type, for example, Sound, Video, or Game Controllers.

Click one of the listed devices, and then click Properties.

Click to select the Disable In This Hardware Profile check box.

Important Record all of the devices that you disable so that you can
enable them again later.

Click OK, click OK, and then restart your computer.

Test to determine if the issue is resolved by
restarting your computer. If your computer does not shut down correctly, repeat
steps a through e, but disable a different hardware device in step d. Also, to
test your video adapter, click Start, click Run, type msconfig (without the quotation
marks), click OK, click Advanced, click to select the VGA 640x480x16 check box, and then click OK. If you disable your sound card, video adapter, and network
adapter, but the issue is still not resolved, re-enable these devices by
following steps a through e, but in step d, click to clear the Disable In This Hardware Profile check box, and then continue with the next step.

Note If you are unable to change the video adapter by using these
steps, change your video adapter driver to "Standard VGA." To do
this:

Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Display.

Click Advanced on the Settings tab, and then click Change on the Adapter tab.

Click Next, click Display a list of all the drivers in a specific location, so you can select the driver you want", and then click Next.

Click Show All Hardware, click Standard Display Types in the Manufacturer box, click Standard Display Adapter (VGA) in the Models box, and then click Next.

Click Yes, click Next, and then click Finish.

Click Close, click Close, and then click Yes when you are prompted to restart your computer.

If the issue is resolved when you change your video
adapter to the Standard VGA driver, contact your video adapter manufacturer to
inquire about the availability of an updated Windows 98 video adapter
driver.

For additional information about how to troubleshoot display
problems, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:

Press Y when you receive each of the following
prompts, and press N for all other prompts: - Load Doublespace driver - Process
the system registry - DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS -
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS - Load the Windows graphical user interface - Load
all Windows drivers

After all Windows drivers are loaded, you are
prompted to load all static .vxd files, one at a time. Note each static .vxd
file name, and respond with "No" to avoid loading each file. The following list
is a partial list of Microsoft static .vxd files:

Test to determine if the issue is resolved by
restarting your computer. If your computer shuts down correctly, define the
problem further by repeating steps a through d, but respond with "Yes" to only
one of the files in the list above, and then restart your computer. Test each
file by restarting your computer and responding "Yes" to a different file each
time. If your computer does not shut down properly, the issue is related to
last static .vxd file you selected.

Check the properties of the
incompatible static .vxd file to determine the program with which it is
associated. Uninstall and then reinstall the program to replace the .vxd file
with a new copy of the file.

For additional information about the
System Configuration Utility tool, click the article number below to view the
article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Install Windows 98 in a new folder. This may be the
quickest method to determine if the problem is caused by a hardware issue. If
you install Windows in a new folder and you still experience problems shutting
down, check with your hardware manufacturer for an updated BIOS or other
workaround.

For additional information about installing Windows 98 in
a new folder, click the article number below to view the article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Test to determine if the issue is resolved by
restarting your computer. If your computer does not shut down correctly,
go to the
next step.

Determine if the shutdown problem is being caused by a
damaged exit sound file. To do this:

Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Sounds.

Note the name and location of the Exit Windows sound,
click Exit Windows in the Events box, and then click None in the Name box.

Click OK, and then restart your computer.

Test to determine if the issue is resolved by restarting
your computer. If your computer does not shut down correctly, repeat steps A
through C, but restore your original Exit Windows sound in step B, and then
go to the
next step.
If the issue is resolved, your Exit Windows sound file is damaged and you must
replace it.

Determine if Advanced Power Management (APM) is causing the
shutdown problem by disabling APM. (Note that not all computers have APM
features.) To do this:

Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel,
double-click System, and then click the Device Manager tab.

Double-click System Devices to expand it.

Double-click Advanced Power Management in the device
list, and then click to select the Force APM 1.0 Mode and the Disable Power
Status Polling check boxes on the Settings tab. If the settings are already
enabled, disable them by clearing the check boxes.

Click OK until you return to Control Panel, and then
restart your computer.

Test to determine if the issue is resolved by restarting
your computer. If your computer does not shut down correctly, repeat steps a
through d, but click to clear the Force APM 1.0 Mode and the Disable Power
Status Polling check boxes, and then go to the
next step.

If you are running Windows 98 Second Edition and you are
still experiencing problems shutting down your computer, view the following
article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.